Tree issues for arborists and landscape architects

Explaining the Odd Shape of Trees in Winter – Load Reduction Pruning

Here’s a really good post from Claire Corcoran, who’s a Boston ecologist and member of the Friends of the Public Garden Board of Directors. I’ll be posting photos of the ancient Shaw Memorial elms (they date to colonial times, and are two of the very oldest trees on the Common) soon; in the meantime, Claire’s piece is an excellent read.

I am an ecologist and unapologetic tree hugger, and I spend much of my time in parks looking up at the trees’ canopy. Now that the autumn leaves have mostly fallen from the trees in the Common, the Mall, and the Public Garden, the natural forms of the trees are revealed. Some of them are beautiful and iconic of the species – the classic vase shaped form of the American Elm, for instance, which is instantly recognizable from any distance. The bushy, spreading form of an open grown Red Maple is distinctive, as is the characteristic branching of the Horsechestnut tree, which always reminds me of an athlete flexing his muscles. The old Japanese Pagoda tree’s graceful lines are more akin to a ballerina than a weightlifter. During the dormant season, the many varieties of “weeping” forms are clearly visible as their branches trail down towards the ground – cherries…